Let's Play a Game
by P4Nd4
Summary: When Timothy McGee receives photos of his murdered parents and a phone call with an unknown man reveals that it's all part of some twisted game for the MCRT, the Team is thrown into murder and mayhem with no way of knowing who the winner will be.
1. Prologue: The Game Begins

**Panda: Hey, you guys, I'm finally back with a new story. I have once again decided to try my hand at chaptered stories!**

_Panda-Chan: Even though we all know how well that turned out the last time you tried it._

**Panda: Leave me alone! I actually have a muse for this one and she will not let me down! So stop being mean and give the disclaimer!**

_Panda-Chan: CrazyDumbassBlonde9110 does not own NCIS or anything else that may be recognizable in this fic._

-lineenil-

Timothy McGee sat at his computer, clicking away as he played one his numerous online games with multiple people from around the world. The team had just finished a bad case and this was really one of the only ways that Tim could find to wind down, when he wasn't up to typing on his old typewriter, that is. He was just about to give the command for his online team to take siege of the opposing safe-house when a message popped up in the corner of his screen telling him that he had a new e-mail.

He told his allies to stand down for a few while he went to his Inbox and opened the message. He immediately wished that he hadn't. On the screen in front of him were pictures of his mother and father, tied up and gagged with bullet holes in the center of each forehead. There was evidence that they had been tortured before death; many of their fingers were standing out in odd angles and burn marks adorned every inch of their bodies. Under the pictures was a message.

_Can the great MCRT stop me before I strike again?_

Tim stared horrified at the pictures and the message before he lunged for his phone and dialed his parents' number.

"Please answer. Please, _please, _answer." He mumbled to himself, tears building up in the corners of his eyes as the phone rang a fifth time and then the sound of someone picking up interrupted the sixth.

"_Hello, Agent Mcgee." _The voice of a man, one that he had never heard before, answered the phone.

"Wh-who are you. Where are my parents, you bastard?" his shaking hand clutched the phone, to stop himself from throwing it against the wall or from the need to grab onto something he wasn't sure.

"_Didn't you get my picture, Agent Mcgee? Now I might not be the best photographer out their but I thought they got the point across." _His words were accompanied by a breathy laugh, making Tim's anger mount.

"You fucking bastard! When I get my hands on you I'm going to make you wish that you had never heard of me." Tim all but snarled into the phone as the cheap plastic creaked form the force of his hold.

"_I hope you do, Agent McGee, it wouldn't be much of a game if you didn't at least _try _and catch me. Don't forget the other members of our game, though, that message was to the whole MCRT. You have three days before I strike again. Good luck." _His words were followed by the click of the phone and a dial tone and Tim scream in rage as his phone shattered against the far wall.

For a long minute he did nothing but stand there, his chest rising and falling with the force of his breaths and his hand clenching sporadically as he tried to control himself. Eventually, though, the pictures, the message and the phone call managed to sink in and his legs gave out, sending him to the floor where he curled up and sobbed himself to sleep.

-lineenil-

Tim wasn't sure what time it was when he woke up, but judging by the sunlight that was streaming into his eyes it was daytime. He lifted himself off the floor and stretched the kinks out of his muscles, his back reminding him why it was a bad idea to sleep on the floor.

'_Wait, the floor? How the hell did I end up on the floor? The last thing I remember was-' _his thoughts cut off as he remembered exactly what happened last night and his eyes landed on the shattered phone before honing in on the computer.

The screen had gone black as it entered sleep mode and Tim took slow steps as he got closer and closer to the proof that last night actually happened. Very cautiously, as if the mouse would come to life and rip his hand open, he moved it a little and watched as the screen flared to life. His heart stopped as he saw the undeniable proof of his parents' death right there in front of him on the screen, the pictures so much clearer now that his eyes weren't cloudy from a long case. He couldn't stop the few tears that escaped his eyes, nor did he really try to, but he brushed them away as he reached for his cell phone to call the other players in this twisted little game. His Team.

-lineenil-

**Panda: I know this chapter is short but it's kinda like the Prologue. I promise that the other chapters will be a lot longer!**


	2. Chap 1: Bring In The Players

**Panda: Hey everybody! Welcome to the second chapter of Let's Play a Game. I hope you enjoy it and leave me lovely reviews!**

_Panda-Chan: He's a bit of a review monger so don't mind him. Also don't mind the fact that McGee may seem a bit OOC in this story. Panda can do everybody else pretty good but when it comes to McGee he's not so good._

**Panda: I don't know whether to take that as an insult or a compliment, so I'll go with compliment. But, alas, it's true that I don't do that well on Timmy. I hope you enjoy it anyways! Do the Disclaimer, Panda-Chan!**

_Panda-Chan: Panda does not own NCIS or any other recognizable part of this fic._

-lineenil-

By the time Gibbs made it to Tim's apartment building Tony was climbing out of his car while Ziva's was already parked in the space beside. He pulled his car onto the other side of Tony's and parked, quickly undoing his seatbelt and stepping out to meet Tony who had come to stand beside him.

"Hey, Boss. You got any idea why Probie would want us to meet him here instead of at work?" his senior field agent asked as they walked together up the steps leading to McGee's door.

"No, DiNozzo, but I'm sure we'll find out soon enough." He answered back gruffly, mentally deeming it too early to deal with any sort of crisis without a strong cup of coffee.

"Heh. Maybe Probie found out he got some chick pregnant and doesn't know how to handle it. He's probably in there panicking having to marry her to please her parents or something. Hey, Boss, maybe you could give him some pointers, what with you having had three wives and everythin-"the rest of his sentence was cut off by the strong whap that he received to the back of his head, courtesy of an aggravated Gibbs.

"McGee wouldn't call us to his house at," he looked at his watch "7 in the morning for something like that, DiNozzo, or at least he better not have."

They continued to the door in silence, knocking only for the door to swing open immediately. It seems as though Tim had been anxiously waiting by the door for them to arrive if the quick answer was anything to go by. They walked in silently and spotted Ziva sitting in Tim's computer chair, really the only place to sit down in the technologically over run apartment.

"Ok, McGee, we're here. Now what was so urgent that you made us drive all the way instead of just telling us at work?" Gibbs demanded his youngest agent, taking in his rumpled hair, disheveled clothes and the bags under the young man's eyes.

Tim said nothing as he quietly walked over to his computer and switched his monitor back on, having shut it off earlier; unable to look at his dead parents any longer. When the screen finally turned on and adjusted the Team stared at the pictures in horrified silence until the silence was broken, as usual, by the senior field agent.

"Jeez, Probie, if you wanted us to look at dead people you really could have waited until we got into work." He said with a huff, not understanding the significance of the photos.

Gibbs, however, knew that there had to be a reason so he stayed silent until his junior agent found his will to speak. Ziva, herself, was staring intently at the photos, something about them setting off a faded memory somewhere in her mind. When several moments had passed and Tim had still not said anything, Gibbs walked up beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Is there a reason why you're showing these to us, Tim? I doubt that you would bring us here just to look at these pictures." Gibbs said softly, his use of Tim's first name showing that he wasn't angry with his agent.

It was still a few seconds, though, before he actually answered. Tim turned around and drew in a shaky breath before answering Gibbs' question.

"These were sent to me last night. They..They're my parents." His admission was only a few octaves above a whisper, but in the quiet that followed he knew that they had heard.

"Oh God, Probie, I'm sorry. I..I didn't mean to..I mean." Tony couldn't get the word out to say that he was sorry, realizing that he had joked around with the younger man about the photos of his dead parents.

Tim sent Tony a weak smile, telling him that he accepted his apology and didn't hold his words against him. Tony didn't know who they were, after all, having never been introduced to them before. Gibbs and Ziva were still staring at the pictures, Gibbs feeling sympathy for the younger man as he knew what it was like to lose family. Ziva, however, was feeling increasingly bothered that she could not pull up the memory that was skirting around the edges of her mind.

"Was this all that you received, McGee? Did you get anything else along with the photos?" Gibbs was back in boss mode, knowing that this wasn't the time to let the man sink into whatever dark feelings were plaguing him at the moment.

"Only this." Tim turned back to the computer and scrolled down so that the others could see the note that was attached to the bottom of the message.

They stared at it, each feeling varying degrees of anger that someone had murdered their friends' family just to get their attention. They were in silence until Ziva spoke up.

"Are you sure these are real, McGee. Could not someone have put together fake images and sent them to your computer? What is that thing with the computers and pictures, umm, PhotoStore." Ziva's words placed the tiniest bit of hope within Gibbs' and Tony's' chests until they heard the humorless chuckle coming from Tim.

"That's what I thought, too, at first. So I grabbed the phone and called them, praying that they would answer and this would all be some kind of sick hoax. The phone was ringing and someone picked up but it wasn't my parents. It was a man, someone whose voice I'd never heard before, and he told me that he killed them as part of some game he wants us to play. He wants us to try and catch him, to see if we can. If we don't catch him in three days he's going to kill someone else. Oh, and its PhotoShop, Ziva, not PhotoStore." The fact that Tim had taken the time to correct Ziva's mistake, after telling them that a psycho who was treating murder as a game was on the loose, caused Tony produce a slightly hysterical giggle.

But as three pairs of eyes turned to him he sobered up quickly and entered into his agent mode.

"When was the last time you talked to your parents McGee? Did they mention anything about people following them or maybe that someone was watching the house?" he questioned Tim, hoping that maybe he could shed some light on how long this guy had been planning this.

"I talked to them just last week and they seemed fine; Mom was talking about how her garden won first prize in the neighborhood garden competition and Dad was going on about his leg injury that forced him to take time off from work. They didn't say anything about suspecting that someone was following them or staking out the house." Tim explained, his hands moving around anxiously as he talked.

"Well that is unhelpful. Perhaps they were being followed but your parents just did not notice them. They are civilians after all." Ziva replied, trying to come up with ideas that would help find the man that hurt her friends' family.

"They are now but my dad used to be in the Navy, Ziva, he knows when people are following him or acting suspiciously and my mom has always had a knack for knowing when she was being followed or watched. Either this guy is an expert at what he does or he just decided to go ahead and do it without much thought." Tim was more open to believe that the guy was an expert at what he did seeing as he had spoken to the guy and he didn't seem like the random sort.

"Wait, you said that your father got a leg injury that forced him to take time off work, right?" Gibbs asked, his mind once again seeing something that the agents had overlooked.

"Uh, yeah, he works for a construction company and they just started building this place out in Norfolk. Apparently one of the heavy carts that holds all the power tools got loose and he didn't have the time to pull his foot back before got ran over. It broke a few bones but nothing that would have permanently damaged anything. Why?" Tim was unsure of where his boss was going with his questions but he was sure that he probably wasn't going to like it.

"Did they have set work hours or did everyone just work sporadically?" Gibbs ignored Tim's question and followed along with his line of thought.

"Well, dad and a few others worked sporadically. Sometimes he would come home in the evening sometimes in the morning and other times he would come home in the afternoon. Mom was complaining that she could never set up any kind of appointment or anything because they only had one car and she had no idea of when he was going to be home." Tim smiled fondly as he remembered how flustered and annoyed his mom had sounded as she ranted about his dad.

Ziva seemed to have caught onto Gibbs line of thought as she swore softly in Hebrew.

"The man could not kill them until they were both at home and with McGee's father's working hours that could be at anytime. He needed both of them at home at the same time and a reasonable hour so that Tim would be awake and so that he would try to call." Despite herself, Ziva could not help but feel respect for the man who had planned everything out.

"Wait wait wait, are you saying that the man that did this is also the man that broke Probie's dad's foot?" Tony was in shock, he didn't think he'd ever run into someone who went to the lengths this man had obviously gone to just to play a twisted little game with NCIS.

"Yeah, Tony, that's exactly what we're saying. This means that this guy is not only ruthless but patient and methodical as well. Where do your parents live, Tim?" Gibbs asked again, once more using first names to show both his sympathy and the seriousness of the situation.

"They moved to Norfolk after dad accepted the job at the construction company. They don't live too much farther from my old apartment building." Tim answered reluctantly, knowing that they would have had to go their eventually but hoping they could have put it off for a little while.

Gibbs could sense the feelings coming off of Tim and knew that the kid wouldn't be much help at the crime scene.

"DiNozzo, take McGee and head into work. Send Ducky and Palmer out to the house and fill in Abby and the Director. We'll notify you if we find anything or we need some information."

Tim looked at Gibbs with thanks shining in his eyes as he left to change into some clean clothes, it was no use wearing dirty ones when it was no doubt going to be a hell of a week. As he left Gibbs shared a look with Tony and received a nod from the Senior Field Agent, his message understood.

'_Look after him'_

'_Of course'_

-lineenil-

As Tony took Tim into NCIS to send Ducky out and fill everyone in, Ziva had grabbed her gear from her car and settled herself in the passenger seat of Gibbs'. Gibbs peeled out of the parking lot, going faster than he had ever seemed to go before, the severity of the situation weighing down his foot.

"You got something on your mind, David? You seemed a bit distracted in there." Gibbs questioned, knowing that the Israeli women had not been at her best and knowing that something was working at her mind.

"Yes, I suppose that there is. It is those pictures and the things that were done to Tim's parents and the way that they were done. I have seen something very similar to it before but I am a having a, what is it, BrainBurp?" she let out a frustrated huff and her brows furrowed, thinking hard as to where the memories were from.

"BrainFart. Just relax; the memory will come to you when you're not trying so hard to remember it."Gibbs smirked at her slip up while silently hoping she could remember quickly, anything to help them catch the bastard who did this to one of his Agents.

-lineenil-

They rode to NCIS in silence as Tony was too afraid of saying something stupid and upsetting Tim, and Tim just didn't have the will to keep up a steady conversation. The silence continued until they were stepping of the elevator and walking to their desks where Tony took charge as Senior Field Agent.

"Alright, McGee, I'm going to call Ducky and give the address. Why don't you call Abby and have her meet us in the Director's office so that we only have to explain this once, ok?" Tony commanded softly, getting nothing but a small nod and Tim walking to his desk to follow his order.

With a sigh Tony picked up his phone and dialed the number to autopsy. It rang a few times before a Scottish accent greeted him on the other end.

"Autopsy." Came Ducky's greeting and Tony had to smile at the first familiar thing that day.

"Hey, Ducky, it's Tony. We have some bodies for you in Norfolk so you'll have to meet Gibbs at the crime scene. Me and Tim are staying here in case they need us to do something that requires a computer." Tony said, only giving half the reason for why exactly they were staying behind but knowing that Gibbs would fill him in once he got there.

"Ah, yes, the tactical splitting of the ranks. I remember this one time, when I was a lad, I was playing in my back yard with-"Tony cut him off before he was able to lose himself in a nostalgic anecdote.

"Bodies, Ducky, we kind of need you to get there quick." Tony knew the Boss wouldn't accept anything but the best on this case and Tony planned on giving it to him.

"Oh, of course Anthony, Mr. Palmer and I shall be on our way once you tell us our destination." Ducky said and hung up as soon as Tony gave him the address to Tim's parent's house.

Tony hung up his phone as well and cast a glance to his younger coworker and found him hunched over his desk with his head in his hands looking as if he would suddenly break down and cry. Not knowing what to do Tony rose from his seat and walked over to Tim, placing a comforting hand on one of the hunched shoulders.

"Don't worry, Tim, we're going to get this bastard no matter what. Nobody's allowed to hurt our family like that and get away with it. If it's the last thing we do we're going to make sure that that bastard goes down and goes down hard. So stiffen that upper lip, Probie, and let's go fill in Abbs and the Director." Tony squeezed the shoulder lightly before letting go and watching as Tim lifted his face and smiled a thankful smile at him.

"Thanks, Tony, that really makes me feel better." Tim said softly as he rose from his desk and followed Tony up the stairs and to the Directors office.

"Good. Now get ready to have the stuffing hugged out of you because by the time Abby's done you'll have imprints of her arms pressed into your body." Tony's statement brought a small laugh from Tim's lips and he couldn't help but to smile a little brighter at the sound.

If his Probie could still laugh then everything would turn out alright in the end. So with a deep breath he opened the door to the Directors office and was immediately attacked by a worried Goth.

"Oh my God, what happened? Are you guys ok? You're not hurt are you? Has something bad happened, Timmy, you look so sad. Has someone died?" Abby whipped out the questions in quick succession, never giving the two bewildered agents the time to answer one before moving on to another.

"Ms. Scuito, they would probably be able to answer your questions if you took a breath and let them talk." Director Leon Vance said with no small amount of amusement shining in his eyes.

Those eyes turned serious as they settled back on the two agents who had walked into his office, one looking worried and angry while the other looked bone weary and tired.

"I understand that you're here to bring me up to speed on a case that had recently come to your attention, correct?" He asked as he motioned for the three to sit around the conference table as he sat at the head.

"Yes, Director, we have. This morning I was on the computer playing a computer game when I got a message that said I had a new letter in my Inbox. Upon opening my Inbox I found several pictures of..of my parents. They had been t-tortured before being shot in the head. Along with the pictures was a message asking if the MCRT would be able to find him." Tim had to stop here and take several breaths before he was able to go on, Abby clinging to his arm with tears in her eyes, as she had been since halfway through his explanation, and Tony's hand on his shoulder once again offering silent compassion.

"At first I didn't want to believe so I called them but somebody else answered, a man that I've never met before. He told me that my parents' death was all part of a game he wanted to play with the MCRT and that we had three days to find him before he killed again. He hung up after that." Tim was slumped in his seat with his head in his hands by the time he was done and Abby's arms had migrated until she was holding him around the shoulders.

"Gibbs and Ziva are on their way to the crime scene and Ducky and Jimmy should also be gone right now. We're staying here in case they need information on something and so we can look to see if we can find anything out about the bastard who did this." Tony had taken over to give Tim a break a Tim was extremely grateful that he had, unsure if he would have been able to keep it together for much longer.

"Alright. Keep me posted on how it goes and if you need anything I am at your disposal. Dismissed." The three got up and walked to the door until a call from Vance stopped them again.

"Agent McGee, you have my condolences. " He looked at Tim who graced him with a small smile.

"Thank you, Director." And they walked out and headed to the Bullpen to wait for news from the crime scene.

-lineenil-

Gibbs and Ziva arrived at the McGee's home, noticing that everything looked perfectly normal on the outside, but knowing that things got worse on the inside.

"It is funny how the outside appearance of something can hide the horrors within." Ziva commented as they walked up the walk and turned the doorknob which had been left unlocked.

"Or someone." Gibbs added, having met his fair share of people who only showed everyone what they wanted them to see and not the true horrors that lied within.

They stood in the foyer and noticed that everywhere in the house that they could see seemed perfectly normal, nothing seemed out of place and nothing was broken. Ziva started snapping pictures, though, just in case Tim would be able to see something that they could not. They walked through the house, snapping pictures and wondering about the lack of blood. They had seen the pictures and surely some blood had to have made its way onto the floor. They didn't stop until they smelled the scent of decaying flesh and followed it into what looked to Mr. McGee's study.

There were large bookcases lined up against the back wall, each shelf fit to exploding with books of every shape and size and of every category. The wall to the left of the entrance was made up of to bay windows and a large oak desk sat in front of it facing into the room. They looked to their left and finally caught the sight of Mr. and Mrs. McGee's bodies. They were just as they looked in the pictures but now that Gibbs and Ziva could see all of them they noticed that their toes were broken as well. That's when it hit Ziva.

"Aha! I remember now! It was the first interrogation I had ever witnessed in Mossad. They started with the burns and when that was not enough they moved onto breaking the toes and the fingers and when they had finally learned enough or decided that the prisoner was not going to talk they shot them in the head." Ziva told with a sense of triumph, happy to have finally remembered the memory that had been giving her a headache all day.

"So whoever did this might be former Mossad or have some kind of connection with them. Call your contacts when we get back to NCIS and see if they've heard any chatter." Gibbs said, his mind flying as he tried to the case out.

"Will do." Ziva answered shortly as she started taking pictures of the bodies.

They paused as they heard a noise at the front door and their hands reached for their weapons before they heard Ducky calling out to Gibbs.

"Jethro, are you here?" the Scottish man called, standing in the foyer and looking around for any trace of his coworker.

"Back here, Duck." Gibbs called as he went bag to sketching and looking for anything that he could bag and tag.

"Ah, Jethro, there you are. Anthony said that you needed us here quickly so we came as fast as we could. And between you and me I think that Mr. Palmer may have run a few red lights getting here." Ducky said, his words layered with amusement at his young assistant.

"Doesn't bother me Duck, just glad you got here." Gibbs answered, a smirk of his own climbing onto his face before he remembered where he was.

"Right, so who do we have here, Jethro. Anthony was quite glib on the subject so I assume you will be able to fill me in." Ducky questioned as he took out his liver probe and started to get a time of death.

Gibbs heaved a deep sigh before giving Ducky an answer.

"Stephen and Diane McGee." He could tell the moment the names registered in Ducky's head as his old friend tensed up and looked at Jethro with growing horror in his expression.

" Oh, Jethro, no. How did he find out?" Ducky couldn't help but feel great sympathy for Tim as he knew how much the younger man adored his family.

"Found out last night, Duck. Some psycho bastard sent him pictures and a message daring us to catch him. McGee called the house and he answered; told him this is game he wants to play and that we have three days to find him before he kills again." Gibbs told him, his tone morose as he finished his sketching and put it all away.

In the door way Ziva and Jimmy were listening sadly, silently vowing that they would do anything possible to make sure this twisted man was put down for good.

"Alright, Jethro, the time of death for both of them is roughly about 10 o'clock yesterday evening." Ducky concluded, cleaning his probe and placing it back into his bag.

"That's a couple of hours before he sent his message to McGee." Jethro mused before remembering something. "Ziva dust the phone for prints." He ordered.

"On it." She said, moving to the phone and taking out her dust and brush.

"Mr. Palmer, get the gurneys will you, my boy." Ducky asked as he stood up and began to ready the bodies for moving.

"Of course, Doctor." Jimmy replied, moving out of the house and to the truck to retrieve the requested items.

Ziva came back with the bagged prints just time for Ducky to request her assistance with bodies. It was as she was moving Mr. McGee that she saw the small card nestled in the front pocket of his shirt.

"Ducky, hold on a minute. There is something in his shirt pocket." Ziva said as she reached in and pulled the card out, turning it over so that she could read the words.

Her gasp grabbed the attention of the males in the room and they came over to get a better look at the card. They paled almost immediately after reading and Gibbs pulled out his self phone and dialed a number. Ziva couldn't stop looking at it and at the same time a feeling of foreboding overcame her.

For on the card, written in neat perfect cursive was a message:

_How is your father, Agent DiNozzo?_

-lineenil-

**Panda: So how was it? Huh? HUH?**

_Panda-Chan: Not so bad. Got kind of crappy near the end, though._

**Panda: I know! I don't know what happened! Please Review and tell me what you thought of it!**


	3. Chap 2: Tag You're It

**Panda: Hello all my lovely Reviewers, Alerters and Favoriters! Welcome to the third chapter of Let's Play a Game! I'm sure that a lot of you are wondering where I've been, but I have a really good excuse! :D!**

_Panda-Chan: Are you saying that laying around, being lazy and procrastinating until there was nothing left to do is a good excuse for not having this chapter up earlier, when you've had so many chances to do it? -.-.._

**Panda: Er..Yes, that's exactly what I mean. ...**

_Panda-Chan: Right.._

**Panda: Anyway! Let's get this show on the road! Panda-Chan, you know what to do!**

_Panda-Chan: If Panda owned the NCIS series Kate wouldn't have died, Ziva wouldn't have stayed in Israel and Gibbs would never have been blown up. Since all of these things happened we can assume that Panda does NOT own NCIS or any other recognizable part of this fic._

-lineenil-

Tony glanced over at his silent partner for what felt like the hundredth time in the last thirty minutes. He wasn't sure what it was that kept drawing his attention to the hunched over form clicking away at his computer keyboard, but if he had to guess he would imagine that the melancholy air and the thin sheen of tears in his eyes had something to do with it. As if in answer to all of his stares, Tim spoke:

"I'm not going to break if you look away for more than ten seconds, Tony." The strange, flat tone the words were spoken in doing nothing but raising the Senor Field Agent's concern for his younger friend.

"I know that, Probie, but I'm worried about you. You just found out that your parents were murdered by some psycho who's acting as if killing people and sending photographic evidence to their relatives is as fun as Candy Land!" Tony's voice had risen a little at the end, drawing attention from a few others sitting at their desks in the Bull Pen before they lost interest and went back to work.

Tim sighed and looked at his computer, letting his mind wander for a few minutes before answering Tony.

"Look, I know that you're all worried about me and I appreciate that, I do. But now isn't the time for us to be focused on me when we can be looking up or finding leads on whoever it was that decided to do this to my parents. I just want to focus on this right now, Tony, because if I don't I'm going to break down and I don't want to have to force Vance to take me of this case because he feels I can't handle it." Tim looked over at Tony, willing him with the look in his eyes to agree with him and let it for the time being.

"Alright, Tim. I don't like it, but you're right. So let's get to work on finding this asshole so we can stop him from killing anyone else." He received a nod from Tim and they both set off to work.

They worked in silence for a few hours, Tim working on finding the owner of the e-mail address that sent him the pictures and Tony attempting to commandeer the video footage on and around the street that the McGee's lived on. It being a Navy Base they were sure to have captured something. They were going onto their third hour when Tony's phone rang and he answered it promptly, rapidly paling before giving an affirmative to the man on the other line and hanging the phone back up.

"What is it, Tony? What's happened?" Tim had stayed quiet for a few minutes, hoping that Tony would snap out of whatever had him dazed, but when he didn't say anything he decided to snap him out of it himself.

Tony's eyes flew over to Tim's face, his face a sickly white and his mouth opening and closing in a crude imitation of a fish as he tried to put words to his thoughts. Finally, after several minutes, Tony was able to croak out a response

"They, um, they found a, ah, message at the scene." He started out uncertainly, almost afraid to say the words out loud.

"A message?" Tim asked, a feeling of uncertainty curling in his stomach as Tony continued to try and get his words out.

"Y-yeah, a message. It, uh, it asks about my father." Tony gulped ad turned back to his computer screen, not really seeing anything that was written on it but needing something to focus on.

"About your fa-?" Tim broke off his question when sudden realization hit him and he looked at Tony with both horror and sympathy. "But-but your father's in Italy, right? He doesn't have a reason to be in the states, right?"

Tony looked almost hopeful, but he didn't want to believe the words until he was absolutely sure that Anthony DiNozzo Sr. was nowhere to be found in the United States.

"He should be, yeah, but could you, you know, check and make sure or something? I mean, can't you do something with your computer to check where he is?" Tony looked at Tim and then glanced at Tim's computer as if his gaze alone would make the computer spit out the results that he wanted.

Taking Tony's look as a sign to hurry up and get him some results, Tim started rapidly clicking away at his keyboard, his own gaze never leaving his screen until he had the information that he wanted. As soon as it popped up he started looking through it until he came to a part that had him frozen and almost as pale as Tony.

"What, Tim, what's wrong?" Tony was growing more anxious the longer Tim stayed silent, already knowing that Tim had bad news but needing to hear it from the Junior Field Agent.

"Your dad, he, uh, arrived Virginia by plane two days ago. I have no information to go on from there, so he's either staying with a friend or paying with cash. I'm sorry, Tony." Tim looked at his friend with an ashen face, hating himself for giving Tony such horrible news.

"Don't apologize, Probie, it's hardly your fault that my dad decided to come here at the most inconvenient time." Tony said, before turning to his desk and answering his, once again, ringing phone.

While Tony talked to whoever was on the other end Tim thought about the words the other Agent had said. The most inconvenient time. That got Tim thinking; what if wasn't just inconvenient for them but convenient for the murderer? If their assumptions were true then this psycho had staged an accident to break his father's foot so he would have to stay home; making it easier for him to have access to both of his parents at the same time. If he had gone through all that then who's to say he couldn't come up with some way to lure Tony's father to Virginia and into his grasp.

"You look like your thinking pretty hard over there, McGenius. Care to share with the rest of the class?" Tony's words yanked Tim away from his thoughts and he focused on the other agent, noticing the still too pale skin slightly shaking hands; but also noticing his attempt at a joke to lighten things up.

"Ok, you remember how Gibbs was talking about this guy possibly having something to do with my Dad's foot getting broken?" Tim asked and continued at Tony's nod. "Well if he could set it to where my Father's foot is broken so he would have to stay home, don't you think he would be able to do something to lure your father here to Virginia?"

Tony took in this information and processed it before nodding and agreeing with Tim's logic, though it didn't make him feel any better.

"So what should we do? Should we call Gibbs and tell him about your theory or should we wait until he gets back while we try to find my Dad and the reason for him being here?" for once Tony didn't know what to do and that was, perhaps, the most disconcerting thing at the moment.

"Well, Gibbs and Ziva should either be still working or almost here so we should probably just wait until they get here. We could print out a picture of your Father to copy and hand out to the police so they can be on the lookout for him. I guess we should also look in some of the hotels, as well." Tim tried to sound sensible and work out what to do since his partner seemed to be at a loss.

Tony nodded his head and went to work finding and printing a picture to take to the copier while Tim checked his phone records to see if DiNozzo Sr. had gotten any suspicious calls lately. Going through the records, Tim was able to identify every person who had called or been called by DiNozzo Sr. over the last few weeks except for one call that took place about a week ago.

"The call lasted about thirty minutes and then that number doesn't call again. The number belongs to a burn phone so I can't get any information off of it, but I'm sure the fact that it's a burn phone is enough to prove our suspicions at least a little bit." Tim was explaining to Tony who had come back with a large stack of photos, larger than they could possibly need.

When Tim pointed that out Tony chuckled wryly.

"I might have gone a little overboard." Tony admitted, but at Tim's raised eyebrow amended. "Okay, A lot overboard. I'm just nervous, you know?"

"I know, but don't worry. We're going to do everything we can to make sure this bastard doesn't get anywhere near your Dad." Tim smiled at him, feeling better when he got one back.

"Hell yeah, we will, Probester. No one messes with Gibbs's Team and gets away with it." As great as it was to see Tony enthused again they still had work to do and he reminded Tony of this.

As Tim reminded Tony of work the Senior Field Agent remembered the phone call he'd taken before Tim's epiphany.

"The Navy Base in Norfolk says that we can go down and collect the footage from the last few weeks. We should probably call Gibbs and Ziva and see if they're still there and then go around and hand out the photos to the local LEOs and go by a few of the more richer looking hotels." Tony told and then picked up his phone and dialed Gibbs's number.

-lineenil-

Gibbs and Ziva were wrapping up the crime scene when Gibbs's phone rang and he answered it to Tony's voice.

"_Hey, Boss, the Navy Base in Norfolk has approved our request for the security footage we asked for." _Tony sounded a little strained but that wasn't all that surprising, considering what Tony had been told.

"Alright, DiNozzo. We should be there within the next hour or so. You got any leads?" the Agent In Charge replied gruffly, the demanding quality of his voice drawing answers from Tony faster than anyone else could have.

"_We do, but we want to explain them to you face-to-face rather than over the phone. We do have something to do now, though, so we were going to go out and get started on that." _ There was an anxious lilt to his tone, letting Gibbs know that the other man was barely holding him back form hanging up the tone and going to do what he and Tim had planned.

"Alright, just be back within the hour. Don't make me hunt you two down." He hung up before Tony could finish his _'Yes, Bo-' _and turned to Ziva.

"Tony and McGee are following a lead. We need to stop by the Base Office and picked up the security footage before heading back; hopefully we'll find something useful in it." The Israeli woman nodded her head and helped back up all the evidence they had collected from house into the back of the NCIS van, fitting the McGee's computer snugly between two boxes of equipment so that it wouldn't shift on the ride back.

"Do you know where they have gone?" her question garnered a shake of the head from her superior, but nothing else, and she situated herself into the passenger seat and buckled up.

It only took them a small amount of time to get to the Base Office and an even shorter amount of time to get the footage that they requested, a few well placed glares and meek office workers contributing largely in this instance. Ziva could not help but smirk at the way that they all scrambled around, trying to do as Gibbs asked without become the target of his ire.

She couldn't but comment on it when they reached the car.

"Do you enjoy making people run around like roosters with their heads cut off?" Ziva asked, smiling when Gibbs grunted before answering.

"Chicken, Ziva, and it gets the job done faster than just asking for the damn things." He muttered back, pressing harshly on the gas pedal to zoom past a stop light that had changed to yellow.

"That too. And I suppose the fact that you get enjoyment out of scaring people is just a bonus." She raised an eyebrow teasingly as she looked at him from the corner of her eyes.

He just grunted again and focused on driving faster as if he was in his own private race against time. They made pretty good time getting back and they entered the Bull Pen to see Tim and Tony sitting at their desks eating food with their own usual orders sitting on their respective desks.

"If you two are eating then that had better mean you have some information for me." He said harshly, startling the two agents causing their heads to whip around and look at them.

"Uh, yeah, Boss, we have some information for you." Tim hurried to agree, hoping to save him and Tony from the force of Hurricane Gibbs.

The Junior Field Agent quickly picked up the remote to the plasma and brought up the information that he and Tony had found.

-lineenil-

_1 hour 30 minutes ago_

"Yes, Bo-" he was cut off by the dial tone and hung up his phone before turning to Tim. "Well, Boss and Ziva are going to pick up the tapes and after that they'll be on their way; so if we're going to spread these pictures around and check some hotels before they get here we need to get going."

Tim nodded his agreement and stood up from his desk as he adorned his gun and badge. The two agents walked down to the garage and checked out a car and got on their way to the local police station. They gave the photos to one of the officers with instructions to hand them out to other officers and got on their way to the hotels in the area.

"So you just want to check the richer hotels or should we check all of them? We might have a better chance of finding him if we do it that way." Tim's suggestion was met with a shake of the head and a negligent wave of the hand.

"Nah. My Dad wouldn't be caught dead in anything lower than a four star hotel so it's no use searching in any of the cheaper ones. Let's start with this Best Western up here." Tony pointed out the Hotel and they spent the next hour going from hotel to hotel flashing the picture of Anthony DiNozzo Sr. and getting negative affirmations from each one.

Tony's anxiousness and fear were rising each time they went somewhere only to find out that his father had been to none of them. If it wasn't for the fact that his father could have left Virginia since the day he arrived Tony would be all out panicking and demanding that the Armed Forces be called in.

"It's alright, Tony. We'll find him and when we do he'll be fine, don't worry. Now how about we go and get some food for the four of us and get back to the office before Gibbs shows up?" Tim smiled at his friend and led him out of the latest hotel with a hand on his shoulder.

Tony was just staring ahead not really paying attention to anything, the thought that someone somewhere could be doing to his father what they did to McGee's parents was almost crippling to the usually chipper man. Tim, seeing that the Senor Field Agent was out of it, directed him to the passenger seat before grabbing the keys from Tony's lax hand and getting in on the other side. He drove them over to their usual place to get food and placed the usual orders for all four Agents.

By the time they made it to the Bull Pen Tony had started talking a little and it was only ten minutes before Gibbs barged in barking for information with Ziva trailing behind him.

"Ok. When you called and told us about Tony's father we were kind of hoping it was just a tactic to throw us off and unbalance us, so I checked DiNozzo Sr.'s credit cards and found out that he caught a plane to Virginia two days ago. From there, though, I can't find anything on him, which means he either hasn't bought anything since he's been here and he could be living with a friend or he brought along a whole lot of money and he's been paying with that." Tim started, bringing up the information o the plasma before continuing. "We've already been to the police station to deliver some photos of DiNozzo Sr. as well as most of the Hotels in the area with a picture. None of the results came back affirmative so we still don't know where he could be."

"So it is possible for him to have left Virginia, yes?" Ziva's question roused Tony from his daze and he looked up with hopeful eyes.

"Well of course it's possible, Zee-vah. I mean if he wasn't in any of the Hotel's me and Probie checked than he could have simply left state or he could be in any other part of Virginia, right?" Tony looked around with his hopeful eyes, willing someone to agree with him.

"It is entirely possible, Tony, but remember what we were thinking earlier?" at Gibbs's questioning look Tim turned to him and explained. "I remembered how you were talking about the suspect setting up my father's accident and I got to thinking. If he could set all that up and make sure that it was my Father who was hurt than he could lure DiNozzo Sr. away from Italy for his purposes. Going along that line of thought I checked his phone records and I found this number." Tim brought up the phone records and highlighted the number he was talking about.

Gibbs looked at the number and then back to Tim, raising his eyebrow in an unasked question. Tim hurried to answer.

"I traced the number back to a burn phone, Boss. No way to trace it or get any information off of it at all. The number has been disconnected since then." Gibbs was frowning by the time that Tim was finished talking and it kind of scared the younger Agent a little.

"Alright, good work. Keep working on that e-mail and look through that footage. I'll be down with Ducky." With that the Agent in Charge turned around and stalked back to the elevator.

-lineenil-

"Tell me you got something, Duck." Gibbs said as soon as he was inside the doors to Autopsy.

He paused as he saw the bodies of the elder McGee's on Ducky's tables and reminded himself not to send Tim to Autopsy until Ducky was finished.

"Ah, Jethro, nothing yet, I'm afraid. I've found no injuries other than the obvious wounds here and Mr. McGee's previously broken foot." Ducky explained, leading Jethro over to the tables where Stephen and Diane McGee lay with their insides opened to the world.

"You saying it was just basic torture, Ducky?" the incredulity in Gibb's voice drew Ducky's attention again and he focused on the other man.

"No, Jethro, torture is anything but basic you should know that. Even thought certain torture may look less harsh or more painful than others it all has a complex reason behind it. Whether it is to hurt the person being tortured or someone related to them, like is the case now, or to collect information or destroy some psychologically, there are many reasons and none of them basic." Gibbs sighed as Ducky finished and nodded to the doctor as he left Autopsy and headed into the elevator to Abby's Lab.

"I just hope you get this bastard before he harms Anthony's family as well." Ducky murmured and started putting away the bodies.

-lineenil-

The music in Abby's Lab was blasting when Gibbs stepped off the elevator and walked into her door. The Lab Tech was sitting in front of a table, the McGee's computer in front of her while she typed away. He walked up behind her and tapped her shoulder, causing her to jump and spin around on her chair in fright.

"Gibbs! I told you not to do that! You know how I get when I'm focusing, and I was _really _focusing. Like, not focus like bowling focus but, like, hidden picture focus, and that takes a lot of focus." Abby rambled and moved her hands emphatically to get her point across and Gibbs laid his hands on her shoulder to calm her down.

"Abby! Calm Down. I need to know if you've found anything on the computer." Gibbs spun her around and sat her down as he spoke, gesturing to the computer screen.

"Unfortunately, no. I mean all that's really on here are things that Timmy's parents subscribed to months ago and a messenger with a few friends on it. The only outstanding piece of information on here is the e-mail address that this psycho used. It's É and it was created the night Tim got those pictures." Abby showed, clicking through the computer and stopping on the Yahoo! Login screen that still had the email address in its designated place.

"What does it mean?" the Agent In Charge questioned as he stared at the address.

"If I'm right, it means Play With Me in French." The Lab Tech answered, sounding a bit strained at the thought that someone thought this was all a game.

"Right. If u find anything send it up to the Bull Pen." He turned to leave; feeling a bit strained himself and not wanting to take it out on Abby.

"Gibbs, wait." Abby's call had him turning around and he saw her biting her lip, to which he raised a brow.

"Yeah, Abbs?"

"I-I just wanted to ask how Timmy is because, you know, he just lost his parents but he hasn't been down to see me and I know he needs time to cope with everything, but I don't know if he is and I can't just go see him up there because he might not be coming to see me for a reason but I'm really worried because Ziva says he's not acting like someone should act and I don't want him to hold it in but he might have to because he doesn't want to be taken off the case, but you wouldn't let them, right Gibbs?" she had started out slow, almost hesitantly, but by the end she was going faster and faster until it was almost impossible for Gibbs to tell what she was saying.

"Abbs, how many Caff-Pows have you had today?" he asked slowly, walking back to give her a brief hug before pulling away.

"Not many; only about five or six. But that's not important, Gibbs, Timmy's important! And so is Tony! We have to stop this guy before he hurts anyone else!" Abby ranted and stomped her foot, bringing a brief smile to Gibbs's lips as she acted like a child.

"I know, Abby, so get back to work and find me something that will help us find this guy, ok?" he slowly steered her back to her chair again but she hugged him once more before sitting down in it.

"Aye aye, sir! I will not let you down! I will work days, I will work nights, I will not sleep, I-have a message." Abby was cut off as the computer in front of her dinged and a message popped up from the very person they were investigating.

Gibbs leaned closer to the screen to read what was written before straightening and running from the lab and heading to Autopsy while Abby grabbed the phone and called the Bull Pen. Though they were now frantic with worry their minds repeated the message in their minds over and over again.

'_I expected the police to be at my door by now, yelling and shrieking like a flock of angry birds. Or maybe just a pack of irate Corgis.'_

-lineenil-

**Panda: Okay, I know some of you are wondering why I've added another message without sending any horrible scaring pics for one of our Agents. Well, maybe you aren't. Whether you are or aren't, however, is of no consequence so you'll just have to wait and find out what I've got in store for you! :p!**

_Panda-Chan: The anticipation is killing me..*rolls eyes* Please Review so he can get the next chapter up quicker this time._

**Panda:*pout***


End file.
